Talking Tookie

Though there is still more than three weeks until his scheduled execution, everyone is already talking about California death row inmate Stanley “Tookie” Williams.  This USA Today article details that “celebrities and law enforcement officials are competing to sway California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as he decides whether to spare the co-founder of the international Crips street gang from execution.”  That article notes that “Ronald Reagan was the last California governor to commute a death sentence, in 1967.”

In addition to growing media coverage, this high-profile capital case has the attention of the blogosphere, as evidenced by notable posts at the ACSBlog and at TalkLeft and at The Volokh Conspiracy.  All signs suggest that this case will present the most scrutinized clemency decision since then-Governor George W. Bush decided not to grant clemency to Karla Faye Tucker despite appeals from the likes of Pope John Paul II and Pat Robertson (background here from wikipedia).

You can access the “Petition for Executive Clemency on behalf of Stanley Tookie Williams” at this webpage of the law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP.  I know that petitions have been filed opposing clemency, but I cannot seem to find these documents on-line.